A Writer's Friends are Never Safe

Did you ever pick up a book and find that you were one of the characters? Some of our friends have. Although many of our characters are amalgamates of people we know, some stories are made up of characters who are pretty much based on a single person.

One of those stories is The Bar, one of the stories in Mind of a Mad Man. Mind of a Mad Man is our darkest book and it arose from the ashes of a dark time in our lives. We had been forced to get out of the business of selling games due to an economic downturn, complicated by medical issues. Although we didn't miss the hassle of running a retail business, we did miss many of our customers. In a small town, a business like that has regulars -- people you not only recognize on the street, but genuinely care about. The Bar is about some of those people and, although the events in the story are fictionalized, the characters are real people who grieve and struggle and dream.

The Bar is about loss, but it is also about love. When John wrote the story, I had a real problem with how closely the characters in it resembled real people. We are different that way -- I like to keep the identity of my characters obfuscated. He comes right out and writes them how they are -- even uses real names sometimes. He also puts himself in the story. I'm there too, but I made him change my name to protect the not-so-innocent. There...now it's out in the open. Are you happy, John?

Challenge: For those who gamed at Jester's Cards and Stuff, who can identify any of the characters on the cover?  I'll accept either character or player name. Anyone who correctly identifies a character wins a free copy of Mind of a Mad Man. For those who didn't....the cover is based on two roleplaying games. I'll send out a coupon for a free ebook to anyone who can name one of those games.